Reading Royals weekly wrap-ups

Friday, March 1, 2013

1. Last week the Royals won the first game of the week, a somewhat unique Thursday game at the Sovereign Center against the Kalamazoo Wings, 3-1; but then dropped back-to-back games to the Trenton Titans, a 6-0 loss in Trenton on Saturday and a 5-3 loss in Reading on Sunday.

2. Through 57 games, the Royals record stands at 35-16-3-3=76, which translates into a .667 win percentage. The Royals remain in first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.

The Royals currently hold the fourth best win percentage

in the league behind the Alaska Aces (.741), the Ontario

Reign (.711) and the Idaho Steelheads (.679).

3. The Royals have lost the last two games in regulation, marking the fourth time this year that Reading has lost back-to-back games in regulation time. The Royals began the season with three straight losses, establishing the team’s longest losing streak of the year.

4. Reading is 2-4-0-0 in the team’s last six games; 4-6-1-0

in the last eleven; and 9-8-2-1 in the last 20.

5. The Royals win over Kalamazoo last Thursday marked

the twenty-second home win of the year for the team,

which is currently second best in the league—behind the

Alaska Aces, who are 23-6-1-0 on home ice. Twenty-two home wins ties for the third most victories at the Sovereign Center in a single season. The team record is 25 home wins in a single year—which the Royals have accomplished twice in team history (2003-04 and 2004-05).

6. The loss in Trenton ran the Royals overall road record to 1-4-1-0 in the last six games that the team has played on the visitor’s home ice. Overall this season, Reading is 13-10-3-2 on the road; and has now once again dropped below .500 in away games played during the twelve year history of

the team: 190-191-43. The Royals next three games are on the road - and eight of the final 15 games are away games: one in Estero, Florida; two in Orlando; one in Elmira, one in Fort Wayne; one in Evansville and two in Toledo.

7. The Royals swept the season series against the Kalamazoo Wings this year with the 3-1 win at Sovereign Center on Thursday (3-0-0-0). Overall, the Royals have gone

7-3-0-0 against teams from the North Division with five more games to be played against teams from the North.

8. Going into Saturday’s game in Trenton, the Royals were riding a 10 game unbeaten streak against the Titans (7-0-3-0), although Reading had gone 1-0-3-0 in the previous

four. The Royals who are now riding a five game winless streak against Trenton (0-2-3-0) have one more game against the Titans - the second to last game of the year on March 28 at the Sovereign Center.

9. The back-to-back losses to the Trenton Titans this past

weekend, dropped the Royals record to 2-5-1-0 in the last

eight games played within the division. Overall, Reading

has gone 19-12-3-3 in 37 games against the Atlantic this year with six more games to be played within the division.

10. The first goal of the game has been scored by the opposition on the Royals in the last three straight games - and in six of the past seven. In four of those six games in

which the opponent scored first, the opponent scored the

first goal of the game within the first four minutes of the

opening face-off.11. The Royals have compiled a record of 12-13-1-3 when the opposition has scored first (23-3-2-2 when Reading

has scored the game’s first goal).

MORE NOTES OF THE WEEK1. The 3-1 win over Kalamazoo on Thursday marked the 14th time this eason that Reading has held the opposition to one goal or less. The team has gone 14-0-0-0 in those games.

2. Saturday’s 6-0 loss marked the fourth time this year that Reading has allowed six ore more goals in a single game. The team has gone 0-4-0-0 in those games. That game established the largest margin of loss (minus-6) for the Royals this year. The Royals allowed five in Sunday’s loss. Reading

has compiled a record of 0-8-0-1 in the nine games in which the team has allowed five or more.

3. The Royals have allowed 35 goals against over the last ten games—a team goals against average of 3.50. Overall, Reading has allowed 159 goals against this season, which is an average of 2.79 goals against per game—eighth best in the league.

4. Saturday’s (Feb. 23) game marked the first time this season that Reading has been shutout. It is the 34th regular season shutout against in the 12 year history of the Royals, who have been shutout at least once in every season that the team has been in the ECHL.

5. Over the last thirteen games, the Royals have scored a total of 34 goals, which is a 2.62 goals per game average. Reading has scored a total of 193 goals this season, which is a team goals per game average of 3.39—third in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the ECHL.

6. Reading generated thirty-seven shots on goal in Thursday’s win and 39 in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Trenton. The Royals have had 35 or more shots on goal in 21 games this season (and 40 or more seven times). Overall, the Royals are averaging 32.53, which is fifth in the league.

7. The Royals limited the K-Wings to just 21 shots in Thursday’s 3-1 victory. That marked the 21st time this year that Reading has held the opposition to 25 or fewer shots (Reading has held the opposition to 20 or fewer shots 12 times this year). Overall this year,

Reading has averaged giving up 26.81 shots per game which is second best in the league.

8. The Royals did not score a power play goal last week

(0-12) and have now gone 13 consecutive power play chances without scoring. Prior to this most recent streak, the Royals had actually scored at least one PPG in 11 of the prior 15 games.

9. Two of the games this week in which Reading did not

score a power play goal were against the Trenton Titans,

against whom the Royals have not scored a single power play goal in 12 consecutive games. The last time Reading scored a PPG against the Titans was the 15:03 mark of the first period of play on October 17, going thelast 52 power play chances against the Titans with nothing to show for it.

10. Overall this season, the Royals power play has scored

39 power play goals in 257 chances with the man advantage, which is a 15.2% scoring ratio (18th in the league).

11. The Royals penalty killers have allowed at least one power play goal against in four of the last five games—allowing 9 PPGAs in the last 25 chances with the man advantage for the opposition, which is a 64.0% kill ratio. Although the PK blanked the K-Wings’ power play on Thursday,

the Royals got touched up for a total of six PPGs in ten chances with the man advantage by the Trenton Titans on Saturday and Sunday (Fbe. 23-24). The four PPGs scored by Trenton—all by forward Stephen Schultz - tied a season high of PPGAs for Reading (set when Wheeling went 4-10 on the PP against Reading on October 26).

12. The Trenton Titans have now scored 19 PPGs against the Royals in 61 chances with the man advantage in the 14 games played between those two team—and have had five different games in that span in which they scored more than one PPG. This translates into a 68.9% kill ratio for the Royals’ PK against the Titans this season.

13. The Royals penalty killer has suffered considerable more difficulty on the road, killing at a 77.4% away from the Sovereign Center (nineteenth in the league); while the team’s PK has killed at an 87.5% ratio at home. Overal, Reading is killing at an 82.6% ratio (41 PPGA in 235 chances on the power play for the opposition.

MORE NOTES OF THE WEEK1. Yannick Tifu recorded a pair of assists in both Thursday’s (Feb. 21) win over Kalamazoo and Sunday’s loss to Trenton. Tifu, who has had four multi-point games in his last eight, leads the Royals with 17 multi-point performances this season. Tifu, who has nine points (2g-7a) in his last eight games, leads the Royals with nineteen goals and 34 assists. Tifu, who had a season high seven shots on goal in Sunday’s game, is currently tied for 12th in the league in scoring with 53 points in 57 games.

2. David Vallorani picked up a pair of assists in Thursdays win over Kalamazoo, registering his 12 multi-point game of the year. Vallorani, who has 17 points (3g-14a) in his last 18 games, is currently tied for the league lead amongst rookies with 30 assists. His 42 points (12g-30a) is tied for fifth amongst rookies in league scoring. Vallorani and Tifu are tied for the team lead in plus-minus amongst active forwards on the roster, playing to a plus 11 (+11).

3. Joel Champagne snapped a fourteen game goal scoring drought when he scored his 13th of the year 4:50 into the third period in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Trenton. Champagne, who has scored two goals in his last 22 games, has eight points (1g-7a) and played to a plus-3 (+3) in twelve games so far in February.

4. Stan Galiev was held off the score sheet last Thursday and Saturday, marking the first time this season - in 30 games played to that point - that he had gone two consecutive games without recording at least one point. He snapped that streak when he scored his 14th goal of the year 14:05 into Sunday’s game to get the Royals’ on the board (after being shutout by Trenton the night before). Galiev, who leads the Royals in power play goals (8) and game winning goals (6), has 31 points (14g-17a) in 31 games, which places hime tied for 12 in rookie scoring.

5. Nikita Kashirsky scored all three goals for the Royals in the team’s 3-1 win over Kalamazoo on Thursday. That was the second hat triock of the year for Reading (the other was by Stan Galiev on December 15, 2012 in a 5-3 win over Orlando) and the 32nd hat trick in the 12 year history of the Royals. That was the second hat trick of Kashirsky’s pro career. He also scored the trifecta for the South Carolina Stingrays on Dec. 13, 2009 against the Charlotte Checkers. Kashirsky, who has 21 points in his last 19 games (11g-10a), leads players on the active Royals roster in shooting percentage, batting his 11 goals on just 55 shots 6. Dustin Stevenson picked up his tenth assist of the season on ghe goal scored by Joel Champagne (third for the Royals) in the 5-3 loss to Trenton on Sunday. Stevenson, who tied his season high with five shots on goal on Sunday, leads active players of the Royals in plus-minus at plus-14 (+14) - Molle (and David Marshall) with 85 penalty minutes.

7. Bryant Molle returned to the Royals’ line-up Thursday aftar a 14 game absence dating back to Jan. 18 and recorded a pair of assist and played to a plus-2 (+2) in his three games this past weekend.

8. Jeff Corey returned to pro hockey on Saturday (Feb. 23) after an absence of over two years - his last game dating back to December 29, 2010 as a member of the Ontario Reign - a game in which he scored a goal and picked up an assist against the Victoria Salmon Kings. He scored his first goal since that time on Sunday (Feb. 24) for the Royals in a 5-3 loss to the Titans. That was Corey’s first goal as a Royal since November 1, 2008, when he bagged a goal in the Royals 6-2 win over the Idaho Steelheads at the Sovereign Center.

9. Goaltender Brandon Anderson made 20 saves to record his eighth win of the season in the 3-1 victory over the Kalamazoo Wings on Feb. 21. That game marked the sixth time this season that Anderson has held the opposition to one goal or less in 15 appearances for Reading. On Feb. 23, Anderson and the Royals were touched up for six goals on 28 Trenton shots. That marked the second time this season that Anderson had allowed six goals against Trenton - the other being the 6-2 loss in Reading’s home opener on October 13. Anderson has compiled a record of 8-6-0-1 with a 3.05 goals against average and a .880 save percentage with two shutouts for the Royals.

10. Thirty-seven year old veteran goaltender Frederic Cassivi came out of retirement on Sunday afternoon to play his first game ever in the ECHL as a goaltender for the Royals. Cassivi, whol played 666 regular season games (mostly in the AHL) in a 15 year pro career, last played in with the Vienna Capitals in the Austrian Hockey League in 2009-10. Cassivi, who was the AHL playoff MVP in 2006 when he led the Hershey Bears to the Calder Cup championship, stopped 21 of 26 shots he faced in the Royals 5-3 loss.